(Tuesday. Date: 23-04-2463)

Their names were a solid bland red. We formed up into a tight knit semicircle, with the healer and mage at the center. Two more Golden Masked Wolves slowly approached, cutting us off from the lead path. We were cornered between the ladder, the mounds of husks and the owl-like wolves. “They’re Golem,” I hissed loudly enough so that everyone heard me.

“They’re the strangest Golems I ever seen, that’s for sure,” Matilda muttered. I nodded slowly, something about these Golem’s was different. They weren’t attacking us for one, just watching, waiting, and examining us intently.

“I think…” I began. “They’re waiting for us to make the first move.”

“Maybe,” Melody commented. “Have you noticed how these Golems seem more life-like. They blink and have facial features, they look curious and intelligent.”

“I want one as a pet,” Amara smiled, practically cooing as she eyed the Golems. I caught the barest flicker of a glyph summoning on her forehead, as she brough forth her third eye. That seemed to be enough, as the Golden Masked Wolf on our right, began to make a series of odd heaving coughs. They sounds seeming strangled to me and I glanced directly at owl-wolf with Magical Sight activated. The only light of Mana blazing within the owl-wolfs came from their eyes like twin suns.

The owl-wolf head rose into the air, its neck extending as it continued to make those cough sounds. Then enough let out a sound like that of squawking bark. It throat bulging like that of a frogs.

“I think it might be calling for help,” Joshua noted sagely.

Ya think, I thought and frowning I scanned the mounds on either size. There! after several seconds of looking furiously I spotted what seemed to be a tunnel directly through the mound. If it had been there moments ago I couldn’t tell.

“Everyone. There’s a tunnel through the mound of dried up corpses on our right,” I informed them. “Looks wide enough to fit a body at a time.” As if my words were a signal the owl-wolves on either side stepped forward and down the mounds on either side, immediately cutting off the tunnel. “Well time to improvise ,” I muttered and storing my knife back in my inventory, I raised my right hand and clenched my fist.

Congratulations [Players] You’ve completed hidden quest: White Strand Tutorial. Part 1.

Binding of Attraction: 41/40. Aim assist is now optional and currently [Disabled] With this the binding of attraction is fully within the casters grasp. Attraction is now useable via line of sight, gestures and will of mind. Fulfilling part 2 of the tutorial by completing the requirements, will unlock further advancement within the White Strand.

I stared at the message as I scanned its contents and then dismissed it with a mental wave. I remembered how I had bound the air with attraction, escaping the Desecrated corpses. Contorting the door and wall shut after crashing into Matilda and Josh. Relaxing my fists I formed the will of my intent clearly in my mind, and with an almost dismissive wave of my hands I felt the mental whump as my Mana fled me unseen. Not even a second later blue pinpricks of light manifested on the foreheads of both Golden Masked Wolves on our right. I nodded and they returned the gestured, just with a lot more force.

Their round owl faces slammed into the ground not even ten feet away from us, and I held them spinning as the others advanced. I felt powerful and enthralled by what I could do. An owl-wolf hit the ground swiftly darting for Jason, who had been distracted by my display. I launched that fucker with a toss of my hand, and it shot up into the unseen ceiling, and dismissed that link after some distance. Another rushed for Amara, who lunged at the same time with her blood drinking knife in hand. The Blood Witch had a maniacal grin plastering her face and I left her to it.

I shot out my left hand and formed a fist, repel hit an owl-wolf and threw it across the scrape to our unseen left over the mound on that side. One Golden Masked Wolf attacked Matilda and Josh, driving the Knight and warrior back as it move back and forth constantly just dodging their attempts. I returned to the still stuck owl-wolves on the right side. Their legs working furiously to escape, and they clawed and scratched at the ground. I eased up on their bindings a little and smiled. That smile however froze on my lips as their eyes flashed an intense white and then began to flicker.

Debuff Detected: Paralysis. Incite activation failed. My mental hold on the Golden Masked Wolves fell as the link of attraction dismissed itself. Agh, you fucking idiot¸ I berated myself trying to strain against their hold. They both released a deep squawking bark from their beaks and prowled towards me, their eyes still flashing. I twitched as it seemed like the cobra headdress on their heads began to move fluidly as it liquefied. I was in deep shit.

Focusing I stared intently at the air before me as they stepped closer, willing the air to bind for me. Nothing happened. Yep, deep shit.

They lunged forward; their beaks open wide, tiny tongue’s wiggling like a worm as they went for my eyes. A colourless barrier slid into view between just as owl-wolves beaks crashed into it with a snapping crunch. The instant they were dazed the paralysis broke, and I backed away further behind Melody’ spell ward as it began to falter.

“Don’t look them directly in the eyes,” I called out and affirmative grunts came as a reply. I shot a look over my shoulder and saw that Josh was just shaking off his own paralysis, as Matilda swept the legs out from under a Golden Masked Wolf as it sprinted for the warrior. Then he was there, joining her as bombarded the downed owl-wolf with swings and attacks. Ending when Josh buried his axe in the owl-wolfs skull and Matilda separating the head with an overhead slice.

Melody called another spell ward but time around Jason and Maggie, as the they assaulted two new owl-wolves running over. From the direction they came, I guessed these to be the ones I blasted off to our far left.

I refocused on my own fight as the Golden Masked Wolves recentred themselves more steadily. I saw that their beaks were bent at odd angles. The owl-wolf on the right side’s beak, was crushed so far down that it had to be digging in to the fur and skin below its beak. On the Left side, this owl-wolf’s beak was disjointed the upper beak bent to the right as the lower portion of beak remained where it was.

They squawk angrily at me and prowled to either side, looking to flank me from my left and right. I grinned, and swept my hands wide. Multiple pinpricks of light appear in my magically enhance vision and the whump of Mana spread from me as the mound behind the two Golden Masked Wolves writhed, as if coming alive. The husks jittered and buzzed as I grabbed numerous amounts of bodies and with a binding of attraction I formed them into roughly shaped balls made of from the husks of corpses.

They floated up lazily, brittle limbs and bones snapping at they contorted into the form I willed. It was, I noted absently pretty revolting. But the power I was playing with utterly fascinated me. The owl-wolfs had just enough sense to look behind them before the husk formed boulder smashed into them as I pulled my arms fiercely. They yelped a squawking cry, as the tangle of bodies and limps crashed down. A second later, I floated the improvised boulder into the air and slammed it down again, and again.

Seeing that they were rightly and properly dazed now, I rushed in and rolled the husk boulder back enough to expose their heads. The right owl-wolf came to its sense rather quickly and its eyes started to flash with Mana. I stomped down on its neck with my foot, pinning it there as I retrieved Heava’liku from my inventory and drove the knife through its eyes, one after the other. It burst into a pile of dust as I slid my knife free.

After doing the same to the other Golden Masked Wolf, I frowned as only one of the dust pile had any loot. 350G, 7Mc. x 4 Mana Core Fragments. Maybe not everything I slay will be lootable now? I thought questioningly. Some to ask Annaleigh then.

I turned back to my friends. Amara was viciously stabbing her opponent over and over yelling angry insults, as she rode it like a bucking bull. I shook my head at the angry Blood Witch. I guess she realised that she wouldn’t be getting any blood from them after all, I thought. Considering that they were golems.

I dismissed all my bindings of attraction and took a deep shuttering breath. I pulled up my mana to see how it look, not having paid it any mind during the fight. I was surprised to see that nothing had changed from previously, in fact it looked as if I’d only used one spell at all. The slow regain of my Mana every six seconds, made me believe that. I shook my head and instant pulled up my message window to see if I had missed any notifications. Before focusing on that though I scanned my group critically. Maggie, Jason and Amara seemed to have the worse injuries, though they were minor in comparison to what could’ve happened. Amara looked a little haggard and had several deep slashes and gouges throughout her body.

“She did wrestle one of them alone,” I muttered quietly and focused on my message window.

Slay the Guardians of Bresacs Tomb: 12/16.

Alert!

Conditions have been met. The attraction binding magic of the White Strand will no longer pull from the Mana Cube System, but the White Strand itself.

White Strand: 89%

“So my White Strand magic will now act similarly to my fatigue. Hmh, that’s pretty awesome,” I mused to myself. I looked down at my wrists and saw that I still had the glowing white bands of magic. I formed both hands into fists and aimed them. The familiar holographic sight flowed up from the bands, as I took aim. I instinctively knew that both now only shot the repulsion spell. I’ll need to meet the requirements for repel now, I thought and nodded. Walking over to the rest of the party, I thought about adding my five attribute points but decided to wait until I could actually make decent advances in my attributes.

Cocking an eyebrow, I looked at the scowling Blood Witch. “What’s wrong with you?”

“They don’t have any blood,” she said with a pout, still scowling.

“I could’ve told you that,” Melody interjected, as she finished healing a few minor scrapes on Maggie’ knees and wrist.

“They just… seemed so life-like, ya know?” Amara replied sighing.

Matilda walked over with Joshua in toe, I caught sight of the warrior admiring Matilda’s backside as he followed after her. I bit my cheek though and refrained from doing or saying anything. Matilda didn’t belong to me. Our -semi-serious fight, had cleared up the air on our relationship. Except I didn’t know what to class us as now. We weren’t exactly best friends, but I trusted her down here. Maybe that’s all it was. She was someone I could trust to have my back and that was it.

I looked back to Amara, quickly but then looked away, feeling like I was using her proximity as an excuse to ignore my thoughts.

“I know what you mean,” Matilda replied as she came to a stop by us all. Then she looked at me and I blinked as everyone paused and did so as well.

“What, something on my face?” I asked and swiped at my forehead with my wrist, wondering if I was sweating that badly. Granted it was stupidly humid down- wherever we were. I could see in the others, especially Matilda, Josh and Melody, who wore full gear appropriate to their Gifts. Maggie wore a thin belted robe that trailed down to her knees. Jason wore light leather armour with a single iron pauldron. Amara and I wore casual clothing, though my armour was actually concealed. Amara on the other hand, I had no explanation for.

“No,” Melody said with a slight smile. “We’re wondering about your fantastical display of power,” the Cleric wiggle her eyebrows at me.

I grinned at her and then turned to the others and explained what had happened. I watched throughout my quick explanation as all of their eyebrows shot up and they shook their heads.

“That is so ridiculous,” Maggie mumbled as she climbed to her feet. Melody shuffled on her knees over to Amara and started a quick chant as she began to heal the Blood Witch.

“Not ridiculous,” I countered, “broken, is what you mean.”

“So how does it work exactly?” Matilda asked me and crossed her arms over her armoured chest. I tapped a finger against my chin as I thought on how I could show.

Looking down at my feet, I squinted slightly. Picturing what I had in mind, I bound the air before my feet. The others gasped as a translucent barrier similar to Melody’ coalesced. I stepped onto it and spread the barrier out widening the surface. I shot a look at my White Strand notification and saw that it had dropped only two percent. I shook my head and held a hand to Matilda. “Care to join me?” I asked with a grin.

The Knight tried very hard to keep a stern and cool expression, but I saw the corners of her lips quirk up slightly. Unfolding her arms Matilda ignored my hands and stepped hesitantly onto the bound air. I had wanted to test kind of flying, but thought it would be better done in a more open space and preferably not in a Gateway.

Matilda stepped beside and nodded for me to continue, I looked at the others and took a deep breath and gestured slowly with my left hand in a rising motion. We jarred and stumbled a bit as the bound air left the ground only a few centimetres.

I could feel the minute hum and buzz of the surface beneath us as we slowly floated inch by inch into the air. We raised higher, until we stood floating fifteen feet above the others. What they didn’t see though was the death grip Matilda hand had on my arm.

“You could let go you know,” I told her and looked at my health, waiting for the second it would start to drop.

“O-oh, sorry,” the Knight replied and loosen her death hold, but kept her grip. Feeling slowly return to my hand in pins and needles. “Its amazing that you can do this,” Matilda whispered, and I nodded. We were still rising, giving us a good view of what was ahead.

“I’m sorry,” I told her quietly, when there was a deep pause between us. “For what I said, and my actions.”

She nodded absently as she looked out over the seemingly endless area of husk mounds. Off in the distance two thin lights shone down from above. Within one, stretching all the way up looked to be another ladder. The other light shone down on what could’ve been a pedestal.

“What’s the bet. that our second key is on that pedestal,” the Knight said pointing to distant pedestal.

“Likely,” I murmured. “I expect something will descent on us though. Either more owl-wolves or probably Desecrated corpses,” my lips thinned remembering how they’d held me down and vom- I shook away the thoughts and shivered through a spike of revulsion.

“I’m sorry as well,” Matilda said softly, and I blinked trying to turn my mind away from my thoughts.

“For what? You didn’t do anything. Except kick my ass,” I chuckled lightly, and was gladden when I saw a small smile creep across Matilda’ lips.

“You know… when you held me,” she began hesitantly and looked away. I stopped the levitating barrier and turned to her. “It reminded me of old times.” She didn’t say anything else and I nodded, looking out over the area.

“I guess… I always hoped that somehow, I’d become Gifted you know. Then in that perfect world we would be together still. But…” I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, a line of sweat trickling down the side of my face.

“But instead, you became jealous of me,” Matilda continued, her voice still soft.

“Yeah- jealous and secretly spiteful of everyone who was close to you.”

“Why?” she asked after a long moment, and turned back to me. Her features were cool, calm, and beautiful. Yet I saw the turmoil in her purple gaze, and decided to be truthful.

“Because I hate myself,” I whispered and swallowed down the crushing depth of my self-pity. All the times I had been treated like trash for who I was, with utter scorn for the job I did. Being unable to save my father or protect my mother. The constant worry, that I’d somehow failed at some point in my life and this was my karmic reward. The thought of losing Kayla and being left alone. The guilt of only truly feeling alive when on the other side of a Gateway.

All this over the years had slowly chipped away at me and I had to pushed so deep, that it only showed in those moments when I was alone and in the dark.

Scolding hot water dripping down to burn me. My mom’s hand held in my own like a lifeline, even as I cried from the pain.

Grief, in its many forms.

I had told myself, that Kayla and I had really lost our mom the instant she went into her coma, never to return. Now though…

Tears fell down my face to drop and catch on the barrier of bound air beneath my feet. I hadn’t realised I had even started crying. Matilda’ arms enveloped me in an embrace.

~*~*~*~

“Everything alright?” Melody asked as soon as we touched down. I nodded and waited as everyone gathered around.

“Alright, I think pretty positive we saw the exit from up there. But, there’s a problem,” I said and looked around at them all.

“Of course there is,” Melody sighed and dusted at her robe as leaned on her staff tiredly. Seeing her like that, reminded me to have a look through the Store System and see if it sold any potions. Might be a good idea to stock everyone up going forward, I thought and nodded mentally, making a note.

“The exit is another ladder. Its quite the ways off still, but we’re also certain that there’s a pedestal with the second key on it.” I informed and waited as they processed the information.

“Should we- uh, I don’t know- split up?” Jason asked glancing around nervously.

With a sigh I shrugged, “maybe. We may have to. One half of the group goes and secures the ladder. The other the key,” I said in partial agreement. “If it’s there,” I added.

“If that’s our plan, I’ll take the group going for the ladder,” Matilda asserted.

I nodded gratefully, “I’ll take Jason and Amara for the pedestal and hopefully the key.”

“Why them?” Maggie asked, eyebrows drawing down.

“Because they’re the fastest, other than myself. Plus I’m pretty sure Amara’ blood pet can be our heavy hitter and distract anything we might encounter. For heals, I’ve still got quite a few potions left.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Maggie said and shuffle her feet, looking a little guilty for some reason.

“Alright, anymore questions?” they all shook they’re heads, “then let’s move.”

We ran together until we hit a branching path between three husk mounds. Amara, Jason and I pulled right as the others went left.

“How far do we have to go?” Jason called to me, and I looked to see him glancing back.

“I don’t know. We’ll see the light when we’re closer,” I replied. I cast a glance at Amara, and saw that the Blood Witch was easily keeping pace with us. Her miniature blood golem held to her head as it stood on her shoulder like the captain of a ship bracing for a storm. She caught me looking at her and grinned my way.

I refocused as we lead on, passing by and along hundreds of husk mounds. All of them in similar states, at least that was until one of the mounds starting shuffling. We sprinted not wanting to stop and see what it was. Then a body crashed into the mound ahead of us, and several husks were thrown into our path. We leapt over them as a Desecrated corpse stood jerkily to its feet, we us running and let out a primal, feral scream.

Several seconds of silence passed and then I heard three loud thumps, and felt the impact beneath my feet. My message window flashed up and I quickly squinted at the what it said, processing it. “The other group must’ve run into more Golems,” I called out.

“I’d… rather face… the Golems… that… them,” Jason panted and shot a thumb over his shoulder. I followed his gesture and looked back to see four Desecrated corpses sprinting after us. Their undead visages horrifying, made all the worse by the crusted cloth wraps they wore that seemed almost melded with their decaying, rotten flesh.

“I see that the light,” Amara shouted cheerily, and pointed ahead, completely unfazed by the doom hunting us. Then I too saw it, a beacon in the distance. I was unsure of the remaining distance between us and the light. If there weren’t any husks mounts I imagined we’d make in a few minutes.

“Keep running,” I called to them and slowly my pace slightly.

“What’re you-” Jason shouted turning to face me.

“Keep. Running.” I cut him off. Turning around quickly, I gestured at the air in front of me and felt the menta; whump of my Mana releasing. A colourless barrier formed a foot away and I concentrated, stretching it to encompass the path. The four Desecrated corpses were now fifteen feet away and closing the distance so fast that I barely had a chance to shoot my barrier towards them. What I didn’t expect though, was that my barrier of bound air would hit them and only pushed them back a step or two as they braced against it.

“What the hell,” I muttered and winced as what felt like claws raking across my mind, as I pushed mentally on my barrier. Then it broke, splintering into thousands of shard-like pieces that twinkled prettily as they floated there for a brief moment. The Desecrated corpses broke them, and the shards dropped onto the ground. My head snapped back as the backlash of my binding spell hit me.

I grabbed at my nose, as it started to gush blood and stumbled into a run after the others. Another new message prompt popped up and I quickly read it as I moved.

White Strand weakness detected! Unholy, undead and cursed beings taint binding magic. Great, I thought, just what I need. Some I can’t really fight against. I briefly thought on exiting the Magical System, but didn’t know if there would be any repercussions doing so. Like a need to stand still for two minutes as the systems swap themselves.

I caught up to Amara and Jason in record time. Unfortunately so did the Desecrated corpses. One leaped at me and caught a hold of my clothing, as the other three went for Amara. I saw that they completely ignored Jason though, focusing on Amara and I.

I reached back with my hands and caught a hold of corpses arm on my left side and a leg with my right. Its jagged claw-like fingernails dug through my armor and clothing to pierce my skin. -43Hp. Affliction detected: Curse. “Fucking get off me,” I growled and whipped us about to roll and impact the ground. -29Hp. Resist Curse: 88% Their curse worked to spread through my body fast. I needed to get this fucker off me and help Amara. Grabbing a tight hold of the corpse, I pumped eight shots of repel in quick succession. We rocked so forcibly that I felt my back crack as the Desecrated corpse, and I were crunch together and shot up into the air.

I felt the drain on my mana as two hundred forty points left me so quickly that I actually the sudden loss from my Mana pool. Like a brief hollowness in my heart. I dismissed the spell and for a few moments we floated in the darkness and I had to wondering at the diameter of this pit we were in. Reaching back I caught the Desecrated corpse around its neck as we began to plummet down through the air. I twisted and rolled, managing to cut its grapple of me. We fell and I pulled my knife from inventory and went to work stabbing at its face and chest over and over.

It lashed out clawing a furrow across the side of my head and on my cheek, just missing my eye. -112Hp. Resist Curse: 61% I guessed head wounds and attacks, not just did more damage but also increased the chance of receiving the curse. I cried and jarred away as it really fucking hurt getting your face sliced like that.

Seeing that nothing I did seemed to have an effect, and the ground quickly coming up, I got my feet under me and pressed them against the corpses chest. Twenty-five feet from the ground I launched the corpse away from with a hard heave of my legs. It hit the path and bounced leaving small dented crated where it landed. The corpse then barrelled through a mound, crashing out onto the other side. Husks flew everywhere from the impact. I hit the ground hard and rolled as my ankles strained.

I climbed steadily to my feet and saw that in fact Amara was doing well. She had managed to pinned one the corpses as her blood golem, in berserker form was battling the two others.

I glanced to where the Desecrated corpse I’d faced fell. It was climbing over husks, seemingly unhurt by its fall and impact. “Amara, we need to move.”

“Okay,” she replied sounding unperturbed by the cursed beings. I looked around and noticed that Jason was gone.

“Where’s Jason?” I called to her. She was now crouched over the pinned corpse and was driving her Drinkers blade through its neck. A frustrated growl escaped her as she drew no blood.

“I fucking hate this,” she muttered.

“Amara,” I cut in on what sounded like the start of a tirade. “Where’s Jason?”

The Blood Witch blinked and looked at me, then at our surroundings. “I don’t know.” She tilted her head prettily, and I wondered if she hoped the answer might fall out of her ear.

“I guess he carried on. Let’s go before we’re overwhelmed again.” I started to run, and Amara came up beside me and caught my hand in hers. The angry cry from behind us spelled that either one or more of the Desecrated corpses had broke off to chase us.

I cut a left around a mound and climbed over another, seeing that the light shining down on the stone pedestal was only ten metres. We hopped down from the mound and climbed up another. Cutting the amount of time it would’ve taken by half on foot. I heard the hard crunch of hollowed bodies being crushed as the Desecrated corpse chased after us, climbing the husk mounds.

“Guys!” I heard a familiar voice call. Jason had reached the pedestal before us and was waiting inside the cone of light. From this close the light seemed natural and pure, a protective sanctum from the encroaching darkness and the cursed beings. Amara hit the stone platform before me as I turned to aim my fist at the corpse. It jarred to a halt and stumbled as the weight of it stomping over the husks gave way, tripping it over.

I smiled and leaped down to the ground to climb up another mound. It wasn’t so hard climbing over dried up and hollowed bodies, it was simply a matter of spreading your weigh. Either that or the husks were far more durable than I expected. A few seconds later I leapt off the top of the mound and skidded onto the stone platform.

“Get in quickly,” Jason said, waving at me frantically. Stepping through the threshold of light, swept warmth over me and my tiredness fled. My fatigue immediately fell back down to its base line.

I breathed a sigh of relief, “are you guys okay?” I asked Amara and Jason.

Amara nodded and bent over her knees, a seconds later the Blood Witch was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Jason slumped down beside the pedestal, “yeah I’m okay. I honestly thought you guys weren’t going to- Holy shit!” Jason cried and cringed away. I turned just in time to see the Desecrated corpse land on the platform and charged into us. A spray of ash pelt both Jason and I, hitting me in the chest and Jason across his lap.

I blinked and looked down to see a charred scuff mark going from outside the cone of the light to where the ash hit us. “Huh,” I said sagely eyeing the light. No loot drop then I guess, I thought and turned back to the pedestal.

It was a plain white stone, with curving emerald lines weaving along the entire pedestal, ending at a triangle in the centre. I touched it, nothing happened. I traced my finger along the lines, hoping to find a button or anything.

“Should we really be messing with that,” Jason interrupted me nervously.

I looked at him and blinked, “why not?”

“Well, what if you mess with it and the light goes off. Then we’ll be really screwed,” he answered. I nodded slowly; he had a point after all. Amara suddenly gasped and spun to look at her, her third eyes blazed a dark red. “What is it?” I hissed at her.

“They killed my golem,” she growled back at me and climbed to her feet, her eyes blazing for revenge. I gulped and grabbed her shoulder stopping her. She frowned back at me her intense expression cooling a little, “what?”

“We need to focus on getting out of here,” I told her. “The key is in this pedestal somewhere.”

“Its- not,” a voice choked out. All of us tensed as we scanned our surroundings, my Magical Sight activating and searching for Mana. The husk mound behind the pedestal platform shuffled as arms pushed rigid limbs out of the way. A few seconds later, a bleeding and pale man climbed out. “He took it,” the man spat venomously.

“Raymond?” Jason asked sounding confused. I glanced at the warrior and we shared a look. “Raymond’ a part of Irma’s group.”

“That fucker got me,” Raymond croaked and held out a black shafted arrow its quills fletching white and blue feathers. I saw that the blood coating him was coming from a wound in his chest. “We…” he winced and slumped down on the platform outside the cone of light. “Planned to double cross him. But we got surrounded… Irma and the others fought the golems, but we were… overwhelmed.”

“Double cross him? at what?” I shook my head in confusion.

“He… he wanted to kill you, all of you. Take… your gear. It was our deal…” Raymond coughed and wheezed. I stuck out my arm, stopping Jason as he tried to go and help the man. “Fucker cut us loose before we could even try.” Three figures pulled themselves up onto the platform. The Desecrated corpses snarled a cry and rushed Raymond. For the next minutes we watched in horror as the cursed beings tore Raymond apart with their claws. What I hadn’t expected though was the murky black lines spreading like a network of webbing across Raymond’s body, even after he was killed. He began to spasm and twitch and suddenly his torn-up body jarred upright as the curse took effect.

Undead Warrior. His identifier was grey and weak. The three Desecrated corpse twisted around to stare at us, lips cracking as peeled back in a snarling rictus.

All three at once rushed for us and three handfuls of ash sprayed inside the cone as they instantly disintegrated. I released the breath I hadn’t even realised I’d been holding. I relaxed my shoulders. “What do you reckoned he meant when he said the keys not here,” I asked.

“I bet that bitch has,” Amara said and huffed out a breath.

“It’s likely,” I agreed, “let’s check once more and then go.”

~*~*~*~

Ten minutes later we managed to navigate our way through the winding maze of husk mounds. We came to a stop as the path lead into a small basin-like ditch in the ground. Standing there protectively were the rest of the party. I frowned as I saw them, spotting that something was missing.

They stood within a cone of light similarly to the cone around the pedestal. “Where’s the ladder?” I asked, confusion and concern laden my voice.

“Broken,” Matilda replied curtly. I saw that she removed from her right hand, and that the fingers of the hand were either pointed at odd angles or floppy. Her wrist was also crushed, like a squashed can. “Just as we arrived, it broke and fell. We threw the remains outside the light.”

“Shit,” I hissed and sighed, skidding down into the ditch to join them. Melody was in the process of healing Joshua’s knee. I could the minute restructuring of his bones as the leg slowly untwisted itself, under Melody’ care. The Cleric looked haggard beyond believe and I immediately went to her, as Amara and Jason filled Matilda in on what happened on our end.

Pulling the last of my Mana potions I handed them over to the Cleric and brushed some stray curly hair away from her face. She smiled grateful and I looked to Joshua. The warrior-tank was grimacing as he tried to avoid looking towards his leg. “How’d this happen then?”

It was Matilda who replied, “we got ambushed. Frist it was those Desecrated corpses, we’d seen before. They chased us for a good long while. Maggie got knocked unconscious by one, and we just managed to save her,” Matilda glanced over her shoulder and I followed her gaze. The newbie mage, lay unconscious on the ground. Jason was crouched down beside her taking her hand in his.

“Then when we arrived here, and saw that they gotten get through we thought we were safe. Then the Golden Masked Wolves ambushed us, and the light doesn’t affect them like it did the Desecrated corpses. The Golems simply walked through.”

“Damn, must’ve been a hell of fight,” I commented looking at them for a long second. No loot again, I thought absently. Wondering what was up with that.

“So where do we go from here?”

“Well I saw people on the ladder before it fell. Amara and Jason filled me in on what happened,” Matilda started and nodded for her continue. “I say we carry on. We go up.”

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled staring at the Knight and scratching the back of my head in thought. Could I form a barrier that wide? I once again had to take a second to appreciate how broken my Gift was. Between the two Systems I could unstoppable. Combined with the knowledge that I can enhance my own attributes; I could be a serious combat mage, support or no over both Systems.

“We’ll wait until everyone ready to go,” I told her firmly and she nodded.

~*~*~*~

Everyone stood around fidgeting nervously, as I concentrated on binding the very air. No big deal. “Relax,” someone said from beside and I open one eye to peek at Melody.

“You’re looking better,” I noted and closed my eye again.

“I am, thank you.” She was quiet for a good long second and I extended the barrier and began to form curl the edges forming a rim. “You’ve changed quite a bit, you know that,” she commented idly, and I peek again to see the Cleric with some of her red hair twirling around her finger.

“Well, yeah, I guess,” I shrugged, disliking talking about myself immediately. It just reminded me of my vulnerable moment earlier with Matilda.

“You’re a lot taller for one. Your eye colour is different. The scar Matilda said you had isn’t there anymore. You’re more confident and outspoken now. You’re uhm… Ahem,” she cleared her throat and blushed heavily.

“Okay- okay,” I laughed lightly. “Compliments will get you everywhere, so what do you want?” I asked her.

“Do you want to get some coffee…? with- uh, m-me after this I mean,” the blush crept up into her hair line and I tried my best not to smirk at how flustered she looked.

“I can’t,” I said remembering I was doing something with Amara after we closed this Gateway. Melody’ face fell, and a look of embarrassment crossed her face. “Tomorrow instead?” I added after a second.

The blush crept back in, she smiled and immediately tried her best to hide it. “Sure, coffee tomorrow sounds perfect. We can talk privately then.” I could hear the hope in her voice and gazed past her to see Matilda staring intently over at us, her, Amara and Jason talking softly.

“Alright,” I called, “I think we’re ready.” I clapped my hands and waved for everyone to join us.

The second every stepped on I braced and curled my fingers. The barrier rose unsteadily as the strain of holding everyone fought against my mind. It was a mixture of mental endurance as well as the capability of physical enduring the task. I grunted and heaved quietly as we rose even further and left the ground. Luckily the cone of light was combatting against my fatigue as the it kept rocketing up.

“Rhys, are you okay?” Melody asked me and I grunted a maybe. A second later I heard her chanting softly as the wisps of light flowed into me. They weren’t healing me this time, but sustaining me maybe? I was unsure. They fed into me, giving me something as I gave them in return. I felt the small almost electrical current they usually gave me run through my chest and heart.

Was Melody somehow boosting my attributes? If so, why hadn’t the System detected it.

Before I even knew it, we’d reached the top and everyone quickly scampered off. “You can let it go now, Rhys,” Melody cooed, and I could hear the pride in her voice. It sung through those wisps and I gasped as a mixture of sensations I didn’t understand wash through me. I slumped down onto my hands knees, my mind mentally exhausted, my fatigue physically stable.

“I think I hear fighting,” Jason murmured, and we all paused to listen. Yelling, the clashing of steel and distant curses drifted to us.

“You’re right,” Matilda agreed swing her great sword over her shoulder and propping it there. “Shall we invite ourselves?” The Knight looked to me as I climbed to my feet with the aid of Melody.

“Yeah, let’s go introduce ourselves,” I affirmed. We all harden our expression and jogged silently down the hallway we’d came out on. Several more hallways and through an empty grand cathedral-like chamber we burst out onto what looked like a horde of Pawns fighting against three warriors. A boom from our right rocked everything. I glanced that way to see, a lone archer with blonde hair firing Mana imbued arrow after imbued arrow at a defensive wizard golem.

“Drake,” I snarled and saw Matilda face contort at seeing that he was there. “Everyone help them,” I pointed to the three warriors lead by a dark green haired woman. They were fighting defensively trying to hold their own but quickly losing ground. “Matilda, you and I are going for him,” I gestured at Drake and the Knight’s lips curled in an almost snarl. Without even contemplating what I was doing I pulled up my options menu, tabbing down to Magical System and turning it off.

The world came to a jarring halt and everything stopped for the briefest of moments. Stabilisation complete. The message popped up and I grinned sheepishly as Matilda frowned at me. “Switching Systems,” I explained and waved her on. We ran for the stupid archer, using magically imbued arrows to fight against a defensive wizard.

“Hey, princess!” I called out and grinned when Drake immediately swept his aim from the golem and shot at me with a cry of outrage.

“You fucking dare!” he screamed and unleash. Activating Haste I smiled as the familiar sensation of the world crawling swept over me. I then shot out my hand and with Telekinetic Reach -30Mp, I caught a hold of the Princely fuckers light amour and yanked him off the broken stone pillar, he’d been pinging arrows from.

With a squawk, he flew right towards us and I jumped twisting in the air to swing about and slam my foot his gut, sending him spiralling into the ground. “He’s your Tilda,” I said to the Knight and carried on for the last Golem of the Gateway.

With another heave of Telekinetic Reach I flung myself up into the air and summoned Heava’liku. The knife appeared in my hand and I hauled backwards. With an ear booming blast I flung my arm straight while simultaneously activating Disabling Strike. A palpable wave of force rippled as the knife left my hand and seemingly transported in the same instances that a hole burst into being on Golem, just below its left collar bone.

I crashed into the ground and rolled keeping my momentum. I re-summoned my knife and turned back to the fighting. My party swarmed through the pawns easily and backed-up the three warriors there. Within minutes of fighting, the pawns were dead.

Matilda had Drake by the sword point. The noble-looking fucker looked dishevelled with his stained and torn clothing and blood shot eyes.

He sneered as I came over. “I should’ve known you’d stay with the dogs Matilda,” he spat. “You should’ve stayed a good complacent pet instead of believing yourself to be better. I would’ve let you live, even now I could you give the chance you don’t deserve.” Then he looked at me, “you filthy-fucking-animal. So you have a gift after all. Good for you, you mongrel. Doesn’t change what you are. You’ll stay scum for the rest of life.”

He looked back to Matilda, then at me again a maniacal laughter bubbling up from his cracked lips, “I was going to have my way with your sister after I was finished this one.” He jerked his head at Matilda, “did she tell you how she was with me. Writhing on my cock, as I strangled her,” his laughter was cut off when Matilda swung her sword and cut off his arm at the shoulder. She came scream in anger at him, even as he screamed back in pain. Blood squirted from the wound and the Knight kicked the severed arm away. “We never had sex you delusion fucking perv,” the Knight screamed down at him, spittle flying from her mouth.

She kicked him several times in the gut, halting his crying as he jerked. She stomped over to me and stopped by my side. “Take care of this trash for me?” she asked me softly and I nodded. She lowered he head down onto my shoulder then and stayed there for a few seconds then walked away.

I waited until she was out of reach, then approached Drake. “Dearest Drake—stupid fucking name by the way—look how far you’ve fallen,” I bent down and picked up his severed arm. “I bet you didn’t see your day going like this at all, did you?” I asked his prone form. “I asked you a fucking question!” I shouted at him and smack him across the face with his blood arm, when he didn’t reply.

“F-f-f-fuck you, sc-sc-scum,” he stammered at me.

“Such passion!” I cooed and threw his arm away. Passive ability: Incite has activated: Fear. Bloodlust. Paralysis. My incite unfurled out from under me, as it sinuously weaved its way slowly over to Drake. I almost feel an eagerness and thrill at the thought of gaining another soul. I suppressed an excited shiver as tendrils of fear latched on Drake minds, pooled and enveloping his head. My tendrils of paralysis latched on his spine, freezing the nerves there while my tendrils of bloodlust pool beneath him.

“No, no, no, no. What’re you doing to me?” Drakes voice became panicked. His pain forgotten as his mind was encased by fear.

“Look at me,” I commanded in a whisper, yet my voice travelled through the chamber with authority. I saw everything and everyone in that single moment. All of them watching me. Red lines of shadows rippled out from the corners of my eyes as the rest of me, became a scratchy black shadow, as if someone really wanting to erase something with a black pen.

“You can’t to this to me. My father will know and he’ll, he’ll come for you,” Drake whimpered.

“Do you think care, Drake? If he does come for me, he’ll see me as you do. The monster that I really am,” okay I could pause here a second and breath. Doing the whole whispery, scratchy voice was starting to hurt my throat and I imagined clearing it in front of him, wouldn’t set the image I was going for.

“No!” Drake cried out pathetically and I shook my head and got back into character. “Let’s finished this, shall we.”

I sent a thought along the coils of my incite and formed the image of the scythe in my mind. Instantly all of the tendrils snapped back toward to me and then spun into the air as they converged to form a black strand. My mind tickled at the form it took hold of, but I ignored it for now.

Reaching out I caught hold of the strand and it instantly elongated and morphed into a scythe make of black tendrils. “Drake Sembrane,” I called out and spun the scythe in my hand. It moved with such fluidity with each of my motions, seeming to drink in the light from our surroundings. “To you everything is toy, a plaything you could use at own leisure, be they willing or not. I can’t imagine the hundreds of lives you have ruined for your own amusement, but I can imagine this. Your death will never appease the pain you’ve inflicted on others. But with you gone, it’s never be inflicted again.”

“Stop, get that fucking thing away from you fucking dog,” he spat at me and crawled pathetically backwards. “I’ll kill you for this, just you wait-” His words died on his lips as I spun the scythe around and drove it up under his chin, through his head and out the other side. There, trailing my scythe was a mist of red-glassy motes, that briefly formed the image of a screaming tortured soul. Then it was devoured by the scythe and absorbed into it as the scythe shrunk down to form the strand. I recalled my Incite and winced as a far-off distant scream drill through my mind.

I’ll kill you for this…

Shaking my head, I blinked as the voice receded. +1 Astral-soul claimed. I frowned at the wording, but dismissed the prompt and turned back to see everyone staring at me. A mixture of emotions seen plain across everyone’s faces.

“Fuck! that was frightening,” the green haired woman exclaimed, he tongue flicking out to lick nervously at one the snake-bite piercings on her lower lip. “We all good now? Cause I really want to fucking sit down.” The woman explained and looked at everyone else there. “That guy was a prick.”

~*~*~*~

“Hi everyone. I’m Irma Tallow,” said Irma pointing at herself. I had to admit that the oddball of a woman really was quite beautiful. Other than the piercings in her lower lip, she had one on her tongue, one on nose. Three in each ear, with two at top and one on her ear lobe. The top and bottom were connected by a small chain, with silvery triangles dangling along its length. Her wavy dark green was actually shaven on both sides of her head, it the top just swept down on one side. Her eyes were a light violet shade and I had trouble telling which colour she was.

Her build was in line with Amara’s, both being petite and slim, except were Amara was more gothic, Irma was more punkish.

“Theses are my two friends,” Irma waved at her companions, currently being healed by Melody. “Davis Hallow,” she pointed and broad shoulder man, with a thick beard and curly black hair. His eyes were green, and he gave all of us a quiet nod. “He doesn’t talk much, ya see. On account of his being punch one to many times in the head as a fighter in the pits. Then there’s that slimy cunt over there grinning at your healer.” She gestured dismissively at a dusty blonde-haired man with light blues and a cocky smile.

“Irma!” the man gasped and held at his heart like he had been wounded. “I am in no way slimy.”

“Yeah, but you’re still a cunt though, Hagen,” Irma replied.

“I am that,” Hagen replied chuckling, he looked to the rest of us and introduced himself. “Hagen Mills, trapper and rogue extraordinaire,” he bent and bowed as Melody moved on to Davis’ wounds. “Though honestly, I am officially neither of those so please don’t tattle on me, at least not without giving me a ten second head start first.”

“Rhys?” Matilda prompted me, and I blinked and looked up at her looming over me.

“What’s up Tilly?” I asked her.

“Did you get the second key?” she asked, peering around at all of us.

“N-no I didn’t,” I replied a little panicked and shot to my feet.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Irma called over to us. “That dumb fucker tried the key in the door. It’s what summoned all those Pawns and the Golem. Dumb idiot.”

“So it’s still in the door. But what about the third key?”

“No clue,” Irma shrugged her shoulders and then followed Matilda and I as walked over to a small round vault-like door. There, wedge flat and horizontally in the door were two keys. The slots face north, east and west. East held a red crystal key, whereas North held a blue crystal key.

Slipping the emerald key out from my inventory I stepped forward and placed it in the west slot. It clicked and jarred slightly like it was magnetised. Then an unseen mechanism spun, and a crease formed as small bits of dust fell away as a circle formed around the keys. The keys flashed an intense light of their different colours and when I blinked next they had liquified. The fluid oozed out of the slots and trickled down into the crease. Instead of hitting the crease and then running over and down the door, the fluid began to fill it. A blend of red, emerald and blue filled the circular crease and suddenly the circle began to slid out. Two multi-coloured handles formed and jutted out from either side of the circle.

I reached out and with a firm grasp and twisted using the handles and felt something give way inside the vault door. Looking over my shoulder I saw that everyone was on their feet, eyeing the door with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

A crack resounded and a second later the door began to swing open slowly. We all took a step back and brought out our weapons. There was a soft depressurising hiss as the doors seal broke and completely opened to the air of the chamber we were in.

A cool frigid air blasted into our faces from the opposite side of the vault door. Darkness prevailed on the other side, and I glanced at the others. “Guess I’ll first then,” I grumbled, and stepping up the threshold of the vault I stepped inside.

There was a sharp spike of cold against my skin from all sides and then I was through, and inside a dimly lit cave. A crystalline blue stream of water ran around the circumference of a rocky platform, at its centre where several pedestals that sat at waist height in a circle beneath a light that shone down through a crack in the caves ceiling.

I looked back the way I’d came and saw only darkness, darkness that was breached an instant later by the majority of our party. Everyone except Josh, Jason and Maggie came through. I asked Matilda where they were, but the Knight simply ignored and stepped down into the stream and onto the other side. She walked determinably towards the pedestals.

Then came Melody, Amara, Irma, Davis and Hagen. Each and everyone of them stepped past me and walked to the pedestals. They seemed to be in some sort of trance-like state. “What the hell is going on?”

I moved back the way we’d came, and found that the passage stretched on further than it should. There was no vault doorway or dark threshold. There wasn’t a chamber with our remaining friends there.

I returned to the cave room hoping that the other three were okay. I looked at those staring down entranced and noticed that a spot was vacant. “I guess that spots meant for me then,” I mused, and shrugging and I decided what the heck and moved over to joined them.

Once I was in place a force gripped me and held me there, I tried to speak and call out to the other, but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak. I blinked as light formed solidly over the surface of the pedestals, it morphed and formed, changing its matter. Each pedestal lit up suddenly with a golden glow so intense that had to shut my eyes from the fear of being blinded.

All at once the grip holding me there and the light vanished, and I fell to ass, wavy tendrils of smoke streamed up from above each pedestal. I looked around and noticed at everyone else had fallen over to.

Climbing to my feet, I rested a hand on the pedestal and felt it cool stone as I pushed myself to my feet. The rest were in various states of disarray. Besides me were Davis and Matilda on my right, on the opposite side was Melody and Amara, with Irma and Hagen across.

“Wah-ha- holy shit,” Hagen cried out as he looked upon what the pedestal in front of him. Looking down I saw what I could describe as a smooth black fist-sized egg.

Infront of Matilda was a silvery steel helm with leafy wings on either side and a round shield, the same material of about two feet in diameter.

Amara stared down at a sort-as-shit evil looking tome. It looked to be made of a coarse black leather, with a bloody imprint of a long-fingered hand with three eyes stacked like a pyramid in the centre of the imprints palm.

Melody gaze at her item in fascination, it was a sparkling silver circlet with red oval garnet that would sit facing forward on a person head. Attach to the circlet were slim silvery chains like a mesh, that I guessed would be woven into her hair.

Irma ran her fingers along the curve of one of two slim scimitars. They both had pearl bone hilts, the pommels shaped into what I thought resembled a fox head.

Hagen felt the material of a glittering dark green cloak, its interior lining held an iridescent gleam as it caught the light.

Davis had the by far largest item. The silent man gazed down at a massive dark red cuirass with thick golden inlays that ran in sinuous swirling patterns. Near the neck of the chest armour was a hide of tanned fur, that reminded me of the long dead species of old Earth lions. Which was made all the more apparent when he lifted the armour to reveal a single red pauldron shaped like that of a roaring lion underneath.

I… got an egg.

It was a nice-looking egg. But it was still just an egg. I squatted down besides the pedestal and peered at the egg in distrust. I noticed that there was pattern running the entirety of the egg, only seen from certain angles, or when the light caught it just right. It reminded me of the coppery pathway patterns usually seen on a circuit board.

Placing my hand over the egg, I jumped as a rippling wave of what seemed like scales ran from the egg’s peak all the way down to the bottom. Then something odd happened, a mindless thought trilled in my mind. It was a mixture of anticipation and fear. And the one thought that it would soon be time to hatch.

Hesitantly I withdrew my hand away from the egg, a sense of longing for my touch the last thing I felt as I took my hand away.

[Item: x1 Egg of the Primordial Ananta. Type: Tameable creature. Class: Black rank. Unknown Affects.] The creature that dwells inside this egg is the last of its kind. Days until hatched: 23.

I scowled at the prompt, feeling like somehow it wasn’t doing this egg justice with its vague description. Picking it up carefully, I felt how my embrace send a pulsing drum of giddiness through the egg. A strange part of myself not wanting to be separated from it. For now though it needs to be safe, I thought and reluctantly stored it within my inventory.

It looked like I would be getting a pet, some time soon. I looked at the others and saw they each were armed and equipped in their new gear. “Let’s see if we can find the exit, shall we?” They all nodded there acquiescence and we moved back to the passage, except now it was a dark threshold similar to one we’d entered through.

I stepped through followed by the others, and came out onto the grounds of what I could describe as the grounds of a colosseum. There was a screech of metal as a portcullis gate slide open to reveal three confused looking Joshua, Maggie and Jason. The instant they saw us, they smiled, waved and jogged over.

Quest Objectives:

Slay the Guardians of Bresacs Tomb: 16/16.

Collect the Keys to Bresacs Armaments: 3/3.

Kill the Wraith’s of Bresacs The Hound Keeper: 0/3.

(Warning!) Quest is mandatory and cannot be denied. Penalty for failure is DEATH.

The fact that this message was popping now meant only one thing. We were in the final stage of the Gateway, the boss room to be precise.

Before any of us could announce a greeting, a thunderous howling filled the air with enough force that some of us skidded backs as a few were actually throw off their feet. It was haunting cry, and I immediately retrieved my knife. A felt it approach us, as small distant vibration through the ground.

Then a purple(ish) blue three headed ethereal hound passed through the portcullis, like a spirit. Or… like a wraith, I added thoughtfully. It was fucking huge, at least sixteen feet in height, with a broad muscly frame. Its build actually reminded me of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, I’d seen in a book of Old Earth. Smaller legs and body in proportion to its broad frame.

Its three ghostly visages growled, showing off rows of arm sized teeth as it hunched low and prowled slowly towards us. Thick stringy globes of ectoplasmic drool fell from the curl of its lips to pool with a hiss on the arena grounds.

With a slow steadying breath, I lead the charge against the wraith.

Hound Keeper Wraith’s.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]