Morgan looked at the giant tick and then back at his friends. “We sure we’re ready?”

“We could train forever or just wait until we solve the rest of this portal problem, but I think we should give it another try. We know what to expect now, and we have a plan,” Olivia said, pressing her lips together and nodding at her own words.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Sorry, your spell hasn’t improved yet, but I think the key is the strategy.”

“Yeah,” Morgan said. She was right—he wanted his Void Step to improve and felt he was close, but it wasn’t critical for this battle. “Alright. On you, Bronwyn.” He hefted Bloodfang and primed his spells, ready for instant action. They all stood in the giant doorway, outside the threshold. Bronwyn nodded and began to count.

“Three, two, one, go!” She ran forward, her mirage double right behind her, and Morgan and Olivia took opposite flanks. In response to some unspoken command, Bronwyn's double charged at the tick, driving its copied spear at its huge mandibles in a series of feints. The three companions hurried around the monster’s sides, trying to get behind it, while it focused on battering and slashing the Mirage Double. “That’s one!” Bronwyn called out, indicating that her double had “died” once already. She could only maintain it for two deaths if their plan were going to work.

“Argh!” Morgan yelled, sprinting as hard as he could. He activated his combo when he was adjacent to the monster’s rear legs: First, he cast Hollow Charge, smashing into the back of the giant tick’s torso with his sword, then he instantly unleashed a Void Wave. As soon as the crackling, devouring hole in reality started to expand, he cast Void Step and appeared next to Olivia. She was already firing a narrow, focused beam of superheated steam, targeting the tick’s torso inside Morgan’s Void Wave.

“Go!” Olivia screamed at Bronwyn, and the red-haired woman held up her hands and called down a column of solar Energy with her Wrath of Summer spell. Morgan didn’t leave anything to chance, spooling up a Vortex Lance and firing it parallel to Olivia’s Pyrosteam Drill.

As the bright light and black ball of nothingness faded away, the giant tick wobbled forward on its four remaining legs, its mandibles open in a warbling squeak, gouts of yellow-red guts pouring out with the sound. Then, as it wobbled sideways, Morgan saw the extent of the damage they’d wreaked; the tick’s fat abdomen was half gone, and its insides were tumbling out of it as it writhed in death throes.

“Yes!” Bronwyn whooped. She held up a hand, and Olivia gave her a high-five. Morgan kept watching the tick, though, worried for some last-ditch attack. His fears were well-founded—it started to form a ball of red Energy at its leaking, trembling mandibles.

“Look out!” Morgan roared, watching to see which of them the tick targeted. Luckily for him, because he meant to take the blow again, the tick fired its beam at Bronwyn’s double, “killing” it for the second time. After that, it collapsed with a massive shudder.

“Yes!” Olivia crowed, echoing Bronwyn’s earlier celebration.

“Right on! Nice one, ladies.” Morgan started walking toward the corpse but stopped in his tracks. Huge purple motes of Energy were beginning to coalesce on the monster. They were volleyball-sized and sparkled with silvery twinkles at their center. “Holy shit,” he said, sensing the density of the Energy gathering around the corpse. As the motes gathered into a cloud around the gigantic carcass, it began to stream toward the three of them, a thick, pulsing river of purple Energy for each of them.

As the Energy pulsed into him, Morgan was astounded to be lifted off the ground, transfixed in the air. He arched his back and yelled with the sensation, and he heard Olvia and Bronwyn doing the same.

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 33 Void Adept. You have gained 8 Intelligence, 8 Will, and have 12 points to distribute.***

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Void Step - Improved***

***Void Step - Improved: You are able to instantly travel between two points in space, provided you can see your destination. Energy cost: 1000 Cooldown: Low.***

“I leveled!” Bronwyn yelled, her face flushed with excitement and pleasure from the massive Energy influx.

“Me too!” Morgan and Olivia said at the same time.

“You owe me a Coke,” Morgan said, winking at her. “My Void Step leveled too. I knew it was close! The cooldown is the only thing that changed—it says ‘low’ now.”

“Um, guys,” Bronwyn said, pointing to the far end of the courtyard, past the huge corpse. Morgan followed her finger and saw that a large marble chest had appeared near the next door. “Treasure time?”

“Hell yes,” Morgan said, striding toward the chest. He could hear Olivia’s boots clicking as she followed, and Bronwyn trotted ahead. He felt glorious after that Energy infusion. On top of that, he knew Olivia was on the verge of finishing the pattern for a scrying spell, which meant that he’d soon be laying “eyes” on Issa. Or so he hoped. “What a great day!” He said, smiling at Olivia as she walked up beside him.

“That’s all it takes to get some smiles out of you? Killing a giant tick?”

“Hah! You know why I’m in a good mood. Now that this thing is done, we can rest a bit and maybe try that scrying spell, hmm?”

“Yes, Morgan,” Olivia laughed, “I haven’t forgotten!”

“Guys, should I open it?” Bronwyn called.

“Just a sec! Remember the last chest, Bron? Sheesh!” Olivia hollered.

“I’m just kidding!” Bronwyn laughed, then sat on the ground, waiting for them to walk up to the chest.

“Alright, can we wait a little while to open this? I am very close to finishing Morgan’s scrying spell. I also started working on another type of scrying spell for myself that will allow me to scrutinize items like this chest, assuming it works,” Olivia said, sitting down in front of the chest across from Bronwyn.

“Seriously? You’ve been working on two spells?”

“Um, I have about seven projects going right now, but yeah, I’m closest with these two. They’re sort of related; I stole a piece of Morgan’s spell to make mine, but it uses air-attuned Energy and only works on items I can physically see.”

“How long?” Morgan asked, also sitting down.

“Not sure. Yours is almost done; give me a half-hour to check my work?” Olivia pulled out one of her thick journals and a couple of her textbooks.

“I’ll make us a snack!” Bronwyn announced.

“Right, sounds good.” Morgan kicked out his feet and tried to keep his face relaxed. He was struggling to contain his excitement. If he could see that Issa was okay, it would be like taking a mountain off his shoulders. “I’ll charge some gems while we wait.” Morgan rummaged in his storage ring, pulled the little copper plate Olivia had inscribed with runes and set it on his lap.

The plate was only about the size of a coffee saucer, but Olivia had stamped dozens of runes into it. At its center was a circle where he placed one of the gem-snake gems, and at the edge were two other circles where he was supposed to hold his thumbs while gripping the plate. That done, he channeled some Void Energy along his pathways and into the plate, and Olivia’s runes worked their magic. His Energy crackled along the lines between the runes and then surged into the gem, slowly charging it.

It took about ten minutes for him to fill one gem, and they’d found that he could push around 2000 to 7000 units of Energy into them. Some held more, some held less, and he couldn’t discern what differentiated them. Regardless, it took Morgan about an hour of rest between gems. Considering they’d need two hundred or more to make Olivia’s theoretical void gate spell work, he had weeks of charging to do.

When he finished up with the gem and stowed it away with the plate, Bronwyn offered him a sandwich packed full of sprouts, sliced veggies, and sharp cheese. The two pieces of bread were even slathered with something a lot like mayo. “Damn, this is good! How lucky are we that food stays fresh in these containers?”

“Extremely lucky,” Olivia muttered, still scribbling in her notebook.

“I have a pretty large supply left and tons of the rations from the Queen. What about you guys?”

“Well, I left my old dimensional bag with the refugees outside the gargoyle ziggurat. It had most of my supplies in it, but I’ve still got weeks' worth of dried meat and lots of water,” Morgan said around a mouthful of sandwich.

“Mmhmm, I have a lot of supplies still. We’re fine for a long while,” Olivia added, still only half paying attention to them. Morgan continued to munch his sandwich. He hadn’t even been very hungry before Bronwyn gave it to him. Ever since he’d pushed his race into improved territory, he felt like he hardly ever got hungry.

“You know, Bronwyn, this is very good, but if we’re worried about supplies ever running short, I probably shouldn’t eat as much as I have been. I think my body thrives on Energy more and more as I advance my race; I hardly ever feel hungry.”

“Really?” Bronwyn’s cheeks were full of food, and she continued to chew while scrutinizing him. “I still get pretty hungry.”

“It’s true,” Olivia said, looking up. “I probably could eat half what a normal person does, and I’m several steps below Morgan.”

“Wow. I mean, that’s cool, but I love to eat! You still like it, right?” Bronwyn seemed almost worried, like they were telling her she’d have to give up food if she kept improving her race, and it made Morgan chuckle.

“Don’t worry! I can still eat plenty, and it’s still as fun as ever.” He laughed, holding a hand to his mouth to keep from spitting out crumbs.

“Morgan! I’ve got your spell ready. Why don’t you study it and try building it in your pathway while I finish up mine?” Olivia held a sheet of dense lines. When he looked at it, it seemed almost like a piece of art, but he could see the pattern, the design he was supposed to make with his Energy.

“It’s pretty complicated; how long will it hold together?” he asked.

“It’s not like weaving Energy together. You’re just pushing a thread of void-attuned Energy into a pattern. It will hold as long as you concentrate. I mean, if you had a really low will score, you might struggle, but I think you said yours is high, right?”

“Well, 155.”

“Damn!” Bronwyn said.

“Yeah, you should be good,” Olivia chuckled, then turned back to her notebook. She looked up suddenly and said, “By the way, my calculations for that spell come out to around two thousand Energy. I think your void Energy makes it cheaper to scry long distances because it opens a window between space. I’m not sure it would cost any more or less, no matter the distance.”

“Huh, that’s interesting. Why’s the portal spell you’re designing cost so much?”

“Moving matter is a lot different than opening a window, and we’re trying to make a gate stable enough for all of us to pass through. I think I’m erring on the side of safety. I also think there might be a way to modify it so that only you go through, and the gate instantly closes. That would be a lot cheaper. One more thing, as you get close to finishing the spell, keep in mind the person you’re trying to scry.”

“Makes sense. Alright, will do,” Morgan said, already starting to tune everything out while studying the spell Olivia had created. Thanks to his increased intelligence, he could memorize a good portion of it pretty easily, but he figured he’d have to stop and start the spell pattern quite a few times while he checked it. He closed his eyes and pulled a trickle of void Energy into his broad, central pathway, beginning the pattern.

It took Morgan nearly an hour of concentration, pressing his will against the Energy strand, holding it in place while he gently tugged it into the shape of the spell pattern that Olivia had drawn. Several times, as he completed portions of it, it pulsed and tried to solidify, pulling on the Energy in his Core, and Morgan wondered if a lesser or partial spell had been completed and was ready to cast. Still, he held back his Energy and continued to bend the thread to his will, twisting and folding it.

When he finished the last whorl of the pattern, and it pulsed with dark Void Energy in his pathway, Morgan finally released his hold on his Core and let Energy flood out. He opened his eyes and thought of Issa.

With a disturbing crackle, like sound being erased, the area in front of his face split and opened into a black window. A moment later, an image materialized in the darkness—Issa stood in the foyer of his tower, speaking with Tiladia. He couldn’t make out any sounds, but she looked animated and flushed and was gesturing about. He could tell by her mannerisms that she was laughing. Morgan started to laugh with relief at the sight of her, and tears began to well in his eyes. Then the window crackled again, a reverse of the un-sound he’d heard before, and it was gone.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Void Window - Basic.***

***Void Window - Basic: You are able to open a window between two locations, observing a person or creature that you know well. Attempts to scry those you cannot easily picture will be met with failure. Energy cost: 2100 Cooldown: Long.***

As Morgan wiped his eyes, he realized Bronwyn and Olivia were standing behind him and laughing in celebration. “It worked!” Olivia crowed.

“You guys could see through it too?”

“Yes!” Bronwyn said, slapping him on the shoulder.

“She’s safe!” Morgan said, simply, flooded with relief.

“She sure is,” Olivia also reached out and squeezed his shoulder. Then she said, “Now, how about this chest?”